


Hold That Thought

by cafe80s



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Episode adaptation, F/M, Internal Conflict, Out to Launch, night of the living pharmacists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 09:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14589933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafe80s/pseuds/cafe80s
Summary: The three words that always held her back.





	1. Chapter 1

The three words that held Isabella back cursed her. He had used them twice in one day, and it irritated her beyond her capacity. 

_Hold that thought._

They just felt so… frustrating. 

_____________________

Radio hosts had been talking about the Night of he Falling Stars Girls Choice Dance all day, and Isabella had spent all morning trying to think of a way to ask him.

The boys had finished with their calculations for their rocketship, and Isabella and the Fireside girls were assisting in mission control.

“Hey, Phineas… can I ask you something? Will you go to the dance--”

“Excuse me Phineas, can I get you to sign some liability waivers?” Katie poked her head through the door.

Phineas smiled. “Sure thing! Hold that thought, Isabella.”

 _Hold that thought._ The words rang in her head. 

_All the Fireside girls knew I was going to ask him!_ Isabella thought to herself. _I can’t believe Katie would just cut me off like that._

_Okay. I’ll try again later._

________________________

A while had passed before she got to speak to him again. The boys had rescued Candace from her decaying orbit, and were ready to turn back home.

 _”Mission control, come in mission control.”_ Isabella heard Phineas’s voice through the speaker.

“Phineas, did you find Candace?”

“Yes. We’ve got her and we’re on our way home.”

“Excellent!” Isabella smiled. “So, speaking of home… there’s that dance tonight, and--”

She was cut off by a sudden beeping.

“Hold that thought, Isabella.” Phineas frowned. “I think we’re out of fuel.”

Isabella sighed quietly and signed off. He obviously wasn’t going to hear her question, so she gave up for now.

_________________

Phineas stepped out of the rocket with his green-haired brother, and the Fireside girls congratulated them on returning. 

After an awkward conversation of asking him (and then him asking his brother), she finally felt like she had made minor progress towards the boy.

_It’s not enough, yet. But I’ll work on it._

______________________

Two months passed. 

Isabella frantically turned the pages of the Fireside Girl’s manual to find another patch to earn, and came across one she never intended to get.

The Emotional Bravery Patch.

“This one’s gonna be hard, Pinky.” She spoke to her dog, because it was almost like he understood her. “Well, it is one of the last ones, and if I don’t get it then I never will.” Isabella sighed. “I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna tell Phineas about my crush on him. For this patch!”

She clenched her fist, took the patch and walked briskly across the street.

Her catchphrase sang across the backyard. The explanation of the patch was just about finished before she was interrupted by Ferb clearing his throat.

“Nice, Ferb, you found the new power supply!”

 _Not again,_ she thought. At least those three dreaded words never came. 

________________

The sky darkened over the evening, and the gang all bounced off walls and roofs of buildings through the city of Danville. 

After a short pep talk from the Fireside girls, Isabella gained her confidence again, and bounced alongside Phineas. 

“Phineas! Hey, Phineas, I need to talk to you!”

“Okay,” he said.

“No, I really need to talk to you and I’m just gonna jump right to it.” She paused for a second to catch her breath.

“The thing about that emotional bravery patch is that I need to tell you- -”

“Ahhh! Get away, get away, get away…”

Isabella looked around and gasped. “Mrs Feyerseid! Hold that thought, please.”

As she ran off to help the elderly woman, her thoughts consumed her.

_I said those dreaded words. What have I done? What if this means I’ll never get to tell him?_

_He might never know…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isabella thinks about her feelings for Phineas, and decides to ask Ferb for help.

“What a night, huh?”

“I’ll say. Running from zombies for hours is way harder than it seems. I’m glad we were able to save Danville.”

Phineas smiled up at Isabella. “You did a great job.” He placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

As the three walked up Maple Drive, something inside Isabella squirmed. She felt so uneasy, like there had been something unfinished. But she couldn’t think of what it was at all.

And then her heart sank when she remembered. 

_I never got to tell him about my patch._ She looked over at him. _Should I just do it now?_

Her heart started to race. _No, I’m too anxious. Maybe later._

Phineas’s cheerful, yet sleepy, voice broke her thoughts. “Well, I dunno about you two, but I’m gonna sleep for a week. See you later, Isabella.”

“Bye, Phineas.” There was no sign of enthusiasm in her voice at all. Just total apathy.

What saddened Isabella even more was that he didn’t seem fazed by the tone of her voice. Perhaps it was because he was tired, or just wasn’t good at reading emotion.

The three kids waved goodbye to each other, and Isabella slowly walked up to her front door. It was still quite early in the morning, so her mother wouldn’t be awake for a while.

The raven-haired girl walked through the house into her room. She took off her Fireside hat before collapsing onto her bed, and instantly falling into a deep sleep.

______________________

Isabella woke to the sound of her mother calling her name from the doorway.

”Isa, why are you still in bed? It’s late in the morning.”

Isabella turned in her bed to face her mother. “Oh, well, Phineas and I were battling zombies all night. I was up for ages.”

Vivian laughed. “You kids and your imaginations. I’ve made a mid-morning snack, would you like some?”

Isabella smiled weakly. “No thanks, Mom. Could I stay in bed a little longer?”

”Sure, Isa. I’m going to head down to the restaurant, so I’ll be back later. Will you be okay on your own?”

”I’ll be fine, Mom. See you later.”

Vivian smiled, and left the room. Isabella lay back in her bed, and thought about the patch again.

_Maybe I should do it today. Oh, but I always get cut off every time I try to say something. Maybe it’s not meant to be._ Isabella sighed. _It’s just so frustrating! Perhaps if I get cut off today, and he says those three words then I’ll just give up. If he isn’t going to listen to what I have to say, maybe he isn’t worth it._

_I don’t want to be hurt again._

____________________

An hour passed, and Isabella was up and ready to _seize the day._ She had started using the quote a lot more after Phineas had, but thinking about it this morning didn’t feel right.

_Maybe I should try talking to Ferb about it. He might talk some sense into me, and also into Phineas._

And with that, she walked over to the Flynn-Fletcher household, and knocked on the front door.

”Oh, hello Isabella.” Linda smiled down at the young girl, and opened the door wider. “Come on in, the boys are in their room.”

”Thanks, Mrs Flynn-Fletcher.” She headed up the stairs, and into the boys’ bedroom.

Phineas smiled as soon as he saw his best friend. “Hi Isabella!”

”Hey, Phineas. Uh, I actually came by to… talk to Ferb,” she said reluctantly.

Ferb seemed surprised at first, but then realised what she probably wanted to ask about.

Isabella and Ferb travelled back downstairs, and went out to the backyard.

”What’s up?” Ferb asked as they sat underneath the tree.

”Well… obviously you know I’ve got a thing for Phineas. It’s just that… I’m scared that I’m going off him. Every time I go to tell him something intimate, he gets cut off, and I never get the chance to tell him. It’s always… ‘hold that thought’.” She tensed up at the words. “I just can’t help but feel frustrated about it.”

Ferb took a second to think about what to say. “One of his negative traits is that he isn’t open to a lot. He loves to live in the present and often doesn’t take the time to slow down and think about things.”

”Oh, like why he’s so oblivious to me?”

”Exactly,” Ferb continued. “I would have convince him to listen to you, so you can tell him about…”

”Yeah.”

”But don’t give up on him yet. There is still plenty of time left to do something. This is just a rough spot.”

Isabella smiled at him. “Thanks, Ferb.”

”No problem. I’ll talk to Phineas today, but I’d give him a little while to think about it before taking action.”

”Sure,” she said, pumping his fist. “You’re such a great help. See you later!”

Isabella exited through the side gate, and walked happily across the road with positive thoughts now running through her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the wait for this chapter! It took me a while to figure out how to end this one. Enjoy!

“So… what was the talk with Isabella about?”

Ferb looked over at his brother. He took a while to decide how to speak to Phineas. He wanted his words to be well-formed, but easy enough for Phineas to be able to directly understand.

_Should I tell him what I really said? He’s my brother, I should tell him the truth._

”Well… it’s just that…”

Phineas raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

”She’s been trying to tell you something for a while but every time she tries to say it you cut her off. Not on purpose, it’s just unfortunate timing and she takes it a little personally.”

Phineas sinks down slightly. “Oh. I didn’t realise I made her feel that way. I… gosh, I’m so horrible. I should let people speak before I think about the next thing that happens.”

”Mhmm,” Ferb mumbled.

Phineas looked at his nightstand, where Isabella’s Emotional Bravery Patch sat. He remembered back to the night before, and what he had said to Isabella.

_”One thing that sticks out in my brain is your patch.” He pats his upper arm, where it is. “I don’t know what happened, but I do know that I’ll hang onto this patch for the rest of my life.”_

”Maybe something _did_ happen,” Phineas muttered to himself.

___________________

Isabella lay back on her bed, waiting for something to happen. Maybe for something suave, like Phineas climbing through her window, sweeping her off her feet and kissing her, apologising for what he had done wrong.

But Phineasland wasn’t real, and she knew he wouldn’t do that.

She sighed, and looked over at her desk where a picture of her and Phineas laughing stood. They both looked so happy, and were so in the moment. Ferb had pulled a camera from his pocket and captured the moment perfectly.

Isabella wondered if it would ever happen again.

She sat up, and looked through the window to the yellow house across the street. _Maybe I should go and see him. That might make me feel a little bit better, right?_

Her heart started to beat faster as she walked across the street, and up the Flynn-Fletcher driveway. She looked over the fence, to check that the boys were there.

Ferb noticed her pink bow and raised his eyebrows, beckoning her over.

”Man, I can’t wait til we get to high school,” said Phineas as Isabella opened the side gate. “Everything there is so advanced, and so much happens.” He looked up. “Oh, hi Isabella!”

”Hey Phineas. Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, just talking about high school. Are you excited for it?”

”What? It’s like three or four years away. Can I get through junior high first?”

Phineas chuckled. “I guess.” He lightly patted his pocket to check that Isabella’s patch was still there. And it was.

He felt a weird desire to keep it on him all the time. It just felt so symbolic of their friendship, and he never wanted anything bad to happen between them. Although Isabella did seem more reluctant to talk to him in the last day or so, and Phineas wondered if it was his fault.

He spent a while wondering if he should confront the issue. Eventually, he decided against it, regarding his whole ‘not wanting anything bad to happen between him and Isabella’ thing.

After all, he did consider Isabella to be his best friend.

Ferb stood up. “I’m just going to be in the kitchen quickly. See ya,” he said, quickly vanishing from the awkward silence that hung over the backyard.

Phineas looked up at Isabella. “Whew, I’m kinda glad he’s gone, because I… well, I’ve been thinking about a lot since last night.”

Isabella raised an eyebrow. “Me too,” she said quietly.

”Listen. Ferb told me about the fact I cut people off before they get to finish. And I want you to know that it isn’t my fault. It’s just unfortunate timing.”

Isabella breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

”I’m not sure when exactly I’ve done it to you,” Phineas continued, “but I’m gonna try my hardest to never let it happen again, because you’re important to me. And I never, ever want anything bad to happen between us.”

Isabella’s eyes filled with tears, and she hugged him tightly.

”Phineas…”

He pulled away from the hug slowly, but stayed close to her. “Is there something you wanna tell me? I promise that I won’t interrupt.” He looked at her with the sweetest eyes she had ever seen.

”Actually… it’s about the Emotional Bravery Patch. I’m not sure if you remember, but I was trying to get it last night.” She swallowed. “But here goes, I guess.”

Phineas looked up at her, and smiled.

”I can only earn it by walking up to someone I care about and telling him face to face… that I’ve got a huge crush on you.”

The next few seconds seemed to go in slow-motion, and it didn’t feel real. Her heart was thumping, and her breathing shook slightly.

Phineas seemed to be taken by surprise, which of course showed his obliviousness to the girl.

”Gosh… I, well I guess I’ve always felt the--”

“Who wants orange juice?”

Linda walked out to the backyard holding a tray of juice and cups for the kids.

Isabella sighed with disappointment, and Phineas chuckled.

”Guess it was my turn to get interrupted, huh?” He turned to face his mother. “Thanks for the juice, Mom.”

 _Well, he knows._ Isabella thought. _And it’s good. Maybe he feels the same way._

She smiled at him while sipping her juice, and he smiled back.

 _Well, maybe I’ll never know how he feels._ Isabella thought. _But now that I’ve told him, something might happen. Who knows?_


End file.
